Wrong rules applied

10 Dec 2015

For past two months, City of Melbourne planners have been applying the wrong rules to planning applications, but they say it wasn’t their fault.

It was generally understood that when Planning Minister Richard Wynne introduced interim planning controls on September 4 (Planning Scheme Amendment C262), applications made after that date were to be assessed under the new rules.

But the council interpreted C262 to mean that some of the old rules still applied to certain aspects such as setbacks and overshadowing.

The State Government in mid-November introduced a new amendment (C266) to clarify the situation.

Council planners say the misunderstanding made no difference to any of their recommendations, but the Property Council is not impressed.